I sit at the kitchen counter,
you come and slide your arm
diagonally across my chest,
above my left arm and beneath my right
so now my head rests on the meat of your shoulder.
I curl my arm around yours and lay my hand at your elbow.
I feel my core release and you bear the weight of my torso now.
Your fingertips press into the flesh of my back and side in
large circular strokes. I am aware that I have neither
just birthed a baby nor have we just conceived one,
and yet here we are wrapped into each other,
wreathed, supporting and supported.

You’ve just come back from driving our oldest to rehearsal,
and our three young ones are gathered at the counter with me
dying eggs for Easter. I’ve no idea what has drawn you to me
in this moment, but I thank God for it, and I will come
to remember these sensations of release and letting go
as the moment I began to trust in the turnings of seasons.

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Writer’s Prayer

Lord, you know my heart before I do, for in you it has been created. You know my joy and desire, my sadness and fear, and it is you who instills in me this inclination to write it out, you who inspires my songs, my lament and my celebration.

Let your Spirit inspire me again, and always, to write what you would have me share, to describe what you would have me realize, and to explain what you would have me understand. And when my words fail, when they are disordered and poorly chosen, bless the readers so that in spite of my messy page, they will glean what you wish them to find.

In this, and in all things, my gratitude abounds.

The Need to Pray

"Some call Him Ishwar, some call Him Allah, some simply God, but we all have to acknowledge that it is He who made us for greater things: to love and be loved. What matters is that we love. We cannot love without prayer, and so whatever religion we are we must pray together."
~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Adoration Prayer

God, You are the Ever-present,
the Everlasting;
You are closer to me than my awareness.
you are the stillness behind my movement,
the power behind my breath.
You are the movement within my moving,
the breath within my breathing.

Grant me the grace to meet you in the stillness,
the grace to meet you in the silence.

Mother Teresa’s Essential Wisdom

"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls - 30 families are Catholics and the rest are all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs—all different religions. But they all come to our prayers."

"Love is a fruit, in season at all times and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, the spirit of prayer, and sacrifice."

"It is easy to smile at people outside your own home. It is so easy to take care of the people that you don't know well. It is difficult to be thoughtful and kind and to smile and be loving to your own in the house day after day, especially when we are tired and in a bad temper or bad mood. We all have these moments and that is the time that Christ comes to us in a distressing disguise."

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On Writing:

"If you write for God, you will reach many people and bring them joy. If you write for people, you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in the world, for a little while. If you write only for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted, you will wish that you were dead."
~ Thomas Merton

The Catholic Yogi

Be encouraged to visit thecatholicyogi.com where I post information about my current and upcoming yoga classes and touch on the relationship between Catholicism and Yoga philosophy and practice.

what Love and Be Loved is all about

Welcome to Love and Be Loved. This is what God has created us for; it is as simple and as mysterious as that. This little blog is a record of my small successes and massive triumphs in fulfilling the vocation God has set for me as Wife & Mother, Writer, Helper. Please do not be mislead: I am not short on miserable failures, only they are not allowed here if they do not serve a greater purpose. They must bring a little light along with them.

As servants of God I have learned that some of us are called to the Monastery while some are called to the Slums, and still others are called to the Home. No matter where we are called, where we find ourselves, we are all meant to love and to be loved. My hope is that as I walk my path faithfully, and share my wake-up moments with the world, others will know God's Love. Thank you for sharing in the journey, and may you be blessed for dropping by...